Reversible rotary engine



(No Model.) 3 `sheets--sheet 1.

W. TAYLOR. l REVERSIBLE ROTARY ENGINE. No. 599,665.. Patented Peb. 22, 1898.

(No Mode'l.)

' 3 SneezsJ-sheet 2, W. TAYLOR. REVERSIBLE ROTARY ENGINE.

Patented Feb. Z2, 1898.

mimm NoI` 599,665.

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'me noms rcrzns en, momma 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

W.- TAYL 0R. REVERSIBLE ROTARY ENGINE.

Patented Eeb. 22, 1898.

NITED STATES WILLIAM TAYLOR, OF UNION CITY, TENNESSEE.

REOVERSIBLE ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming' part 0f Letters Patent No. 599,665, dated February 22, 1898.

Application filed April 24, 1897.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LWILLIAM TAYLOR, a citizen o f the United States, residing at Union City, in the county of Obion and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Rotary Engines; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others Skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in rotary engines in which provision is made for reversing the engine at will and for economy in the use of steam or other fluid utilized as the motive power.

The objects of my invention are to provide a simple construction ofthe cylinder in which provision is made for the rotary eccentric piston and a reciprocating cut-off to provide valvechests of simple construction which may be easily applied or removed for access thereto in case repairs are necessary; to provide an improved piston which is balanced on its shaft and equipped with means for adjusting the same to compensate for Wear of the working parts; to provide adjustable packings between the piston and the cylinder, so as to maintain tight joints and also provide for wear of the working parts, and to provide the cylinder with means for the support of the piston-shaft and for the guidance of the reciprocating cut-off.

With these ends in view my invention consists in the novel combination of elements and in the construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my invention, I have illustrated the same in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which Figure l is a plan Iview of a reversible rotary engine constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional kelevation taken longitudinally through the engine on the plane indicated by the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view on the plane indicated by the dotted line 3 3 ofFig 1, the section being taken through the throttle-valves. Fig. 4 is a detail view of one of the valve-chests,

Serial No. 633,757. (No model.)

with the parts thereof detached to illustrate the construction. Fig. 5 is a detail View of the reciprocating cut-off. Figs. 6 and 7 are longitudinal and transverse sectional views, respectively, of the eccentric piston. Fig. 8 is a detail view of one of the cylinder-heads.

Like numerals of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawlngs.

The cylinder 1 of my improved engine is cast in a single piece with open ends and with upright extensions 2 2 at the top side. These extensions 2 are spaced and arranged parallel to each other to form between them a chest 4 for a reciprocating cut-off, to be presently described. The open ends of the cylinder and cut-off chest are closed by the disk-like heads 5, which have the extensions 6, that t against the ends of theextensions 2 2, the latter forming the side walls and the extensions 6 forming the end walls of the chest 4, which is occupied by the cut-oft. The cylinderheads are securely bolted in place in any usual or preferred way, and the upper end of the cut-off chest is closed byv a cover or cap plate 7, -which is bolted to the end and side walls of the chest 4. This cover 7 has a central opening to receive a lubricator, and on the cover are fastened the posts 8, to which are 'l fulcrumed the levers that control the throttle and exhaust valves. This construction of the cylinder and cut-o chest is extremely simple and durable, provides for ready access to the interior parts of the engine, and reduces to a minimum the expense of manufacture.

The cylinder-heads 5 are formed on their inner faces with the integral cores 9 9,which iit true in the open ends of the interior bore or chamber of the cylinder, and in these cores 9 are formed the vertical slots 10, the width of which is equal to the width of the chest 4 and the thickness of the reciprocating cutoft 11. These slots 10 open at their upper ends through the cores 9, and they aline or coincide with the chest 4, so as to receive the end edges of the cut-off l1, whereby the slots vserve as guides for the cut-0E 1l to assist the side Walls of the chest in maintaining the cutoft in proper relation to the rotary piston and in insuring proper sliding play to the cut-oft. The cylinder-heads 5 are, furthermore, bored with openings in alinement with the axis of the cylinder bore or chamber, and in these axial openings in the heads are secured the journal bearings or bushings 12 12, which receive and support the rotary piston-shaft 13, the ends of the latter protruding beyond said bushings for the convenient attachment of a pulley or pulleys or other power-transmittin g appliance. Each bushing 12 has one end extended beyond the cylinder-head, and this protruding end of the bushing is externally threaded to receive a chambered nut 14,which is screwed upon said threaded end of the bushing, and in which nut is con fined a packing that prevents the escape and waste of the lubricant supplied to the engine.

The side walls of the cut-off chest 4 are formed with the inlet-ports 15 16 and with the exhaust-ports 17 17, and these walls 2 are faced with the wear-plates 18 18, which are fastened to the respective side walls in any suitable way to provide for adjustment of the plates, so as to take up the wear on the cutoff 11 and the plates themselves. These wearplates have ports formed in them corresponding to the supply and exhaust ports in the side walls of the chest.

The cut-off 11 is a single piece of steel of rectangular form and of proper dimensions to fit snugly between the wear-plates 18 and the chest L1, and this cut-off is unconfined in the chest except by the plates 18 and the slots 10 in the cylinder-heads, so that said eut-off is capable of a free unrestained sliding movement in the chest 4. The lower end of this freely-movable slidable cut-off is shaped to fit snugly upon the periphery of the eccentric piston 20, with which it makes a tight joint and upon which it rests by gravity and by the pressure of steam in the upper part of the chest 4. The sides or faces of this cuto are recessed or eut out to provide the steam spaces or chambers 19, which are surrounded by the boundary flanges or walls 19', the latter fitting snugly between the wearplates 18.

The piston shaft 13 extends centrally through the cylinder, and to it is fastened the eccentric piston 20. This piston is castor otherwise produced in a single piece. It is of cylindrical form, and through it is a longitudinal passage or opening 21. This passage is produced in the piston at one side of the center thereof, so that it occupies an eocentric relation to the axis of the cylindrical piston, and said passage is of square or other polygonal form in cross-section to correspond to the square part 13 of the shaft. The shaft extends through the eccentric square opening in the piston, and the piston and shaft are united or locked rigidly together by means of the wedge-shaped keys 22 23, one of which is forced between one wall of the passage and an adjacent face of the squared piston-shaft, while the other key is forced between the opposite face of the shaft and its adjacent wall, whereby the wedges are disposed on opposite sides of the shaft in a way to provide for adjustment of the piston on the shaft to insure true relation of said parts. It is evident that one key may be withdrawn slightly and the other forced inward to adjust the piston on the shaft, and these keys are held rigidly in place by frictional engagement with the piston and the shaft and bythe provision of suitable set-screws.

The piston is not a solid structure, but on the side thereof opposite to the longitudinal shaft-opening the piston has a longitudinal opening or chamber 21, thus lessening the weight of metal in the long side of the piston and enabling the latter, when keyed to the shaft, to balance itself thereon.- From this chamber a slot 25 opens outwardly through the face of the piston, and in this slotis fitted a movable plate, which constitutes an abutment 26, the dimensions of which are such that it may move freely in the slot and ride against the inner surface of thebore or chamber of the cylinder. This movable abutment 26 is normally pressed outward in a radial direction, so as to ride upon the surface of the cylinder, by means of springs 27, which are fitted in sockets in said abutment or which may be attached thereto in any convenient way. These springs are seated in sockets 28, provided in a bridge-plate 29, the latter adjusted in the chamber 211 to span the inner part of the slot 25, and said bridgeplate itself supported in the piston by means of the bridges 30, which serve as closures for the ends of the chamber 24 in the piston and also support the bridge-plate in fixed relation to the piston. In the end faces of the rotatable piston are produced annular grooves or channels 31 and the openings or sockets 32. Annular packings 33 are fitted loosely in the grooves 31, and they are normally pressed against the cores on the heads of the cylinder by means of springs 34, fitted in the sockets 32, said rings forming steam-tight joints between the Valve of the piston and the cylinder-heads.

Against the outside of the cut-o chests 4L are applied a pair of valve-chests 35 36, one being fitted against each side of the cut-off chest. Each Valve-chest consists of a pair of plates 37 38 and an intermediate framelike plate 39, which is interposed between the plates 37 38 and serves to space them apart in parallel relation to each other. This intermediate plate 39 is in the form of an open frame, with a transverse bar or bridge 39 between the openings or slots therein, and the ends of the frame and this bridge 39 serve as guides for the two valves provided in each valve-chest. The plates 37 38 have ports 4-0 fil, which coincide with each other and with the ports 16 17 in the cut-off chest for the supply and exit of live and exhaust steam, the admission and egress of which is regulated by the valves.

The throttle-valves 41 are fitted in the two valve-chests to open or close one or the other of the inlet-ports L tO and 16 in the valve and IOO IIO

cut-od chests, and said throttle-valves have their stems 42 pivotally attached to a single controlling-lever 43 on opposite sides of the pivotal connection 43 of the lever with one of the standards 8. The exhaust-valves 44 are fitted in the valve-chests to slide in the opening in the plate 89 across the exhaustports 41, so as to open and close one or the other of said ports, and said valves have stems 45 attached to another controlling-lever 46, fulcrumed at 46( on the other post 8.

The lever 43 is adjusted to open the throttlevalve on one side of the cut-ott' chest, while the lever 46 is adjusted to open the exhaustvalve on the opposite side of said chest, the other throttle and exhaust valves being closed. When steam is admitted to one side of the cylinder, it expands. and acts against the abutment and the cut-off to exert its energy in driving the piston in one direction. By reversing the valves steam may be admitted to the opposite side of the cylinder and expands between the cut-off and the abutment to drive the piston in the opposite direction. The cut-ofi plays freely in a vertical direction in the chest 47 and it follows the action of the eccentric piston, being raised and lowered by said piston during each revolution thereof, so as to cut off the steam at the highest and lowest points.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a-cylinder, and an eccentric piston therein, of the spaced valvechests, a set of oppositely-movable exhaustvalves therein, another set of oppositely-movable ingress-valves also fitted in said chests, and a cut-o common to both sets of exhaust and ingress valves and having both faces thereof provided with recesses each having an area coextensive to the area of the exhaust and ingress valves on one side of the cut-off, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with a cylinder forming a cut-olf chest, of valve-chests applied to opposite sides of the cut-oft chests and each having a skeleton bridge-plate, throttle and exhaust valves fitted in said skeleton plates and each pair of valves connected for simultaneous operation, an eccentric piston, and a slidable cut-o in said cut-off chest between the valves, substantially as described.

3. The valve chest comprising parallel plates having alined ports and slotted plates having a transverse bridge and interposed between said parallel plates, combined with a cylinder extended to form a cut-off chest to opposite sides of which are applied said valvechests, throttle-valves litted in said slotted plates of the valve-chests and connected to a controlling-lever, exhaust-valves lalso fitted in the slotted plates and connected to another controlling-lever, an eccentric piston, and a cut-off, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM TAYLOR.

Vitnesses:

A. J. HARPOLE, A. FowLER. 

